{"id":567235,"date":"2020-01-16T04:07:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T04:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/01\/16\/what-were-tracking-on-16-january-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-01-16T04:07:08","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T04:07:08","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-16-january-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/01\/16\/what-were-tracking-on-16-january-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 16 January 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

All eyes will be on the Central Bank of Egypt\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee today<\/strong> as it meets this afternoon for the first time in 2020 to decide on interest rates. There\u2019s no consensus among analysts, with four out of seven we polled earlier this week<\/a> calling rate cuts of between 50-100 bps, and three expecting the MPC to hold. A survey by Reuters had eight out of 11 analysts calling a cut. The MPC cut rates by 100 bps when it last met in November<\/a>, capping a year of accelerated easing that saw 450 bps in cuts.<\/p>\n

GERD talks in Washington deliver an agreement \u2026 to kick the can down the road.<\/strong> Egyptian, Ethiopian and Sudanese officials, who for the past three days have been locked in what had been positioned as last-ditch talks, agreed to meet again in Washington on 28-29 January in a bid to hash out an agreement on the filling timetable for the dam. We have more in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/p>\n

Egypt officially becomes a regional energy hub today<\/strong>, as the East Med Gas Forum sees Egypt and Israel announce the official start of shipping gas from Israel to Egypt. The group, which also includes Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Jordan and Palestine, first convened in January 2019 to accelerate the creation of a regional gas market. More on that in Speed Round, too.<\/p>\n

On the same topic: Egypt\u2019s electricity interconnectivity project with Sudan is on track to start \u201cwithin <\/strong>days,\u201d<\/strong> thelocal press reports<\/a>, citing unnamed sources. Both sides are finalizing signaling and frequency tests for the 50 MW launch for the project, which will eventually reach a capacity of 300 MW. The interconnection project has been in the works for nearly two years<\/a>, but was stalled several times.<\/p>\n

\"enterprise\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fintech and bankers, pay attention: Visa signed a \u201cdefinitive agreement\u201d to acquire financial services startup <\/strong>Plaid<\/a><\/strong> in <\/strong>a USD 5.3 bn transaction<\/strong> earlier this week, the payments giant said in a statement<\/a>. The acquisition of Plaid, which allows users to safely connect their financial and banking data to other apps they use to manage their finances, is expected to open up new markets for Visa in the US and elsewhere in the world. The story is getting wide coverage in the business and tech press globally as signalling that fintech as gone \u201cmainstream.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Research coverage of Aramco is out<\/strong>, Reuters reports<\/a>. The highlights:<\/p>\n